The roar of nonconformity

Fate, chance or rather the lack of humanity and scruples of a few politicians, wanted the date of the day that we chose to enjoy and share in this Live Reef (the most demanding of the edition), was framed on the day that two key decree-laws on housing were repealed in the Congress of Deputies. One of them was focused on protection against evictions, control of investment funds (vulture funds) and the promotion of affordable housing and rental housing; and the other sought to force the stability of leases through a system of extensions and compensation in favor of tenants. And again, fate, chance or rather the lack of humanity and scruples of a few… has led to the death of Mari Carmen, the 87-year-old woman with almost fifty percent disability who was evicted from her house, where she had lived (and always paid her rent) for more than 70 years, on the day I finished writing this chronicle. Two weeks in the hospital after the shock of being forcibly taken from her home and leaving on a stretcher and ambulance. The fuse of the struggle is lit and the flame of disenchantment is brighter than ever. And so it arrived on the island of Lanzarote, in the form of a sonorous fire on the third day of Live Reef.

We already told you (complete edition) in 2024 that this is not just any festival, nor in its form: four weekends and thirty free open-air concerts, spread across four stages to which, after finishing each performance, the music continues along a guided route to the next stage, with a New Orleans Band particular and a festive parade led by a dancing Elvis (Buli) who carries a giant luminous yellow banner/hand, with his index finger pointing the way. And it is also different from other festivals in its essence: Promoting critical thinking and consolidating itself as a space for social transformation and debate, from the present, without forgetting the past and towards the future. In relation to this, this year there was discussion about “Music, diversity and LGTBI+ rights” and highlighted the talk-debate: “The Women’s Protection Board: Why didn’t anyone talk about them?” with surviving voices (Loli Benito) from said Francoist institution; and, as the culmination of this twelfth edition, mental health as the protagonist, a very interesting round table entitled “The therapeutic power of art”this coming Saturday, October 10 (in the Exhibition and Conference Hall of the Atlántida Multiplexes), with participants versed in the subject, such as the psychiatrist and musician Eduardo Vera Barrios or, among others, the editor-in-chief of this magazine, Joan S. Luna, with his brand new graphic novel under his arm, focused on grief and suicide prevention. The final icing on the cake, as it could not be otherwise, will be loud on the Charco de San Ginés stage, with artists involved in the discourse of emotional health in youth such as Sara Socas. But before that final Saturday and the last previous day of Friday, the 9th Live Reef (with bands like Vera Fauna, O’Funk’illo and M-Clan), we rewind and return to the most incendiary and committed day.

We begin our day of social nonconformity in a big way, from inside the volcano that the people of Barcelona awaken Gyoza in the central setting of La Plazuela. First time for the Catalan quartet in the Canary Islands and they are instant combustion, creating walls of dense and enveloping sounds with a rhythmic base that makes the ground we walk on shake. They present their latest EP, “Drink and release” (26) and they review the best of their repertoire, with an audience completely devoted from the first cathartic roar of Adrià Marva and a hurricane of guitars that leave a mark on the skin. With the rawest and sharpest beat of the Nirvana, plus an extra Deftones under their wings, they throw their personal Molotov cocktail of stoner, hardcore, nu metal and grunge rawness into our chests, making the afternoon jump into the air and the festival quickly reaching cruising speed.

The yellow neon finger appears and we follow the music to the rhythm of the Lanzarote batucada Villa Pipolin charge today of keeping the party going and of taking us on parades from concert to concert. The second line reaches its destination, a wonderful setting with the Charco de San Ginés in the background and the Belgians Maria Iskariot ready, gasoline can and lighter in hands. The punk and mutant rage continues its course and now the horizon on which the sun begins to set takes on the color and aroma of bands like The Pixies, Hole, Sleater-Kinney or the starkest PJ Harvey. We were able to enjoy Maria Iskariot last year at the Canela Party and we instantly fell into their networks, the same thing that happens to the public that packs the place. The desperate hope and painful, but liberating disenchantment that runs through their songs (in Dutch) makes the collective trance and catharsis merge again and again, with the entire band burning the ships on stage or with Helena Cazaerck screaming in the audience. They review almost their entire addictive debut “Wereldwaan” (25) and they win the game from the initial “Waaromdaarom”, passing through flares like “Leugenaar” or “Lief Klein King” and giving us a false respite with the first melodic turns of the bewitching and catchy “Rozemarijn”, to then return to shake us and scratch us at will. End of the party with “Suiker” and we are left wanting much more.

The Villa Pipol teleport us to the Marina stage and there some mythical people await us Def With Two in perfect magazine condition, with the unmatched voice of César Strawberry at the helm and with the band transmitting the contagious strength and energy of yesteryear. A flurry of rhymes like daggers in a repertoire focused on one of his most legendary and influential works, “Alzheimer’s” (95), an album that celebrates its 30th anniversary. Thus they envelop us in a rap metal shootout in which songs such as the titular “Alzheimer”, the highly chanted “Yoko Ono is to blame for everything” sound as forceful as ever, or point-blank subversive blows that, with three decades of life, still continue to come back to us as a society, unfortunately, like a glove: from the senseless violence and hatred that fuels everything and that dehumanizes us in “De Cacería”, to that call to wake up “Little bread” that, now, seems to be occurring and spreading from square to square and through the streets of the country. And off the chart, the grooves of “Alzheimer” give way to other hits by the band such as “Acción mutant”, “Ultramenia”, “El día de la bestia” or “Armas pal pueblo” that sounds more vibrant and necessary today than in the past.

And the claim continues with the last Lanzarote Mardi Gras parade of the night, dancing with Villa Pipol close to the sea until they end up on the great stage of the Cruise Ship Pier, where we meet the undisputed leader of the day, Evaristo Paramo. Social discontent and disenchantment explode into the air and, although “they want us alone, they will not have anything in common,” with Evaristo spitting punk to the four winds and hundreds of throats melting in unison in each flaming classic by La Polla Record and Gatillazo, as sharp as the first day. From the initial “Salve” that lights the fuse, to “This is life”, “Our cheerful youth” or the very festive and combative ones, with pogos included, “The seven dwarfs” and “Lucky man for you”. Each hymn says it all and is received openly and with a lot of contained anger, like an open grave “Come shit” and “Final Solution”; or “Crime”, with phrases that hurt especially these days with so much lack of humanity and empathy: “Bankers, thieves / without leverage and by day. / Scammers politicians, / play to live off of you… / Advertising drugs, / premeditated crime, / and real estate fraud! / Crime, crime is yours, / you make the law.” Lump in the throat and tears in the eyes with a “They say shit” that clears the sky of all clouds, with Arrecife en Vivo in full singing each verse: “How much horror will we have to see? / How many blows will we receive? / How many people will have to die? / (…) / A lot of people live sadly / and they are going to die democratically, / and I and I and I don’t want to stay silent.” I remember that the first time I saw La Polla Records, almost thirty years ago, when I was starting to go to concerts with my cousin and friends, we left our throats and souls in this song… And we have to continue fighting and screaming, because “Within our emptiness / only faithful pride remains and for that / we will continue standing.”

Def with Two

The perfect ending to this day of sonorous insubordination is provided by Carlos Pérez (electronic controls) and Deborah Palenzuela (voice), the Tenerife duo Dyatlov, enveloping us with their dark industrial electro-punk and turning the cruise ship dock into a hypnotic rave from which it is impossible to escape. Addictive intensity, synthesized rawness and existential rage that goes from whisper to scream, denouncing the insensitivity and social collapse of an insatiable and unscrupulous capitalist and technological system. Electronic trance in which each attack of the duo leaves burns and is seasoned with absorbing visuals, reflecting the collective loneliness and urban dehumanization that swallows us like the lava of a volcano. From their still smoking third album “Everything is done for good” (26), ground-breaking songs like “Vorax”, “Encrudo” or “Kill the Dragon” sound suffocatingly, in addition to a “Selective Rain” that once again penetrates us to the core. As Deborah sang, “sometimes I dream that I sleep,” but today the music roared and we are more awake than ever.